Bitcoin, ETH, and LTC were at one point non-mainstream. If the world of cryptocurrency is to remain non centralized then at some point people are going to have to look beyond the top three. I have watched over the years as local banks have been swallowed whole by big banks in America, I have seen the beginning of World banks take over American Banks.
Will there ever be a real world use case of HIVE verse FIAT, maybe one day, will that use ever expand beyond the borders of the Hive Block Chain, I think it already is with LEOFinance, and a few of the games. Hive is being used to purchase tokens and crypto currencies and then being used as a Mutual type fund that pays dividends from value outside of the Hive Block Chain.
Yes it is small scale yet the concept has been running for a couple of years via the SPI-Token, and starting now with the LBI-token. One use of HIVE is as an investment vehicle, will it work? not sure. Should we try? I think so. It is one use case for HIVE that does not totally rely on the price of HIVE to grow.
For most people right now the only real significant use for HIVE is to convert it into their local currency and use it to supplement their living experience. This means that there is, for some, a very real world use case for HIVE.
For me learning about Crypto currency and about some investing is a use case for me. I do not have a lot of investment knowledge other than buying and selling of homes I have lived in. 30 years or more ago I tried to learn about investing and mutual funds and other investment vehicles. I have learned more in the last 8 months than in those 30 years, and there is very little risk to any collateral I currently own in the walking side of life. HIVE has allowed me to learn with out fear of loss of things I own other than of some HIVE that has been gifted to me over the last 8 months and before that of Steem that was gifted.